Kotaku - I Finally Got My Hands On The Xbox One. Hmm.

Kotaku - Last Thursday night at the 2013 Xbox Comic-Con Media Showcase, I got my first hands-on time with the Xbox One. I was pleased — well, mostly pleased.

Having manned home base during both E3 and Microsoft's initial Xbox One reveal, for the past few months, the extent of my experience with the console has been second hand. I read the accounts of my colleagues. I looked at pictures. I watched gameplay videos. I was a well-informed spectator.
(Xbox One)

Isnt this generally the norm? I mean the first batch of titles you see essentially started development on the former system and then gets shifted to the newer as it progresses.

I can recall many saying the first few 360/ps3 games looked like they were xbox/ps2 games but in hd. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

It should come as no surprise that the first batch of X1 games will be supped up 360 games. Its the 2nd wave of x1 games that will tell a different story as those will have been built for the x1 from the ground up.

I am reminded that within a consoles life cycle the quality of the games increases to the point of looking at a game near its end and comparing it to a game at its launch it is a noticeable difference. And yet its the same hardware from beginning to end.

Genesis, snes, ps1, ps2...all had better looking games as the consoles got older. It just comes down to the developers and fully understanding how everything should work to get the most out of the platform.

Im not worried in the least for the quality of next gen ps4 and x1 games. hell...even the wii-u will get better looking games as it goes.

Its a valid opinion. Of course, he only got a taste, but I think maybe he's expecting too much. Its this statement that irks me:

"It's very frantic and pretty, but nothing that couldn't run on an Xbox 360 without trimming away much in the way of gameplay and visuals. "

I don't think that its realistic to expect major advancements, or even any advancements whatsoever, in terms of gameplay during the launch window. We have the same developers working with basically the same tools on the same types of games... can you really expect all new gameplay experiences? Especially considering this is a small sample of offline content?

Its prettier. Better visuals and bigger worlds are all I am expecting for the time being.

That being said, its always nice to read a fresh perspective, and I think, given the same experience, I would have come away with basically the same impression.

"I'm quite impressed with Ryse: Son of Rome,despite the negative press the game's been garnering lately. Sure, the portion of the game we've seen and I've now played focuses heavily on pressing the face buttons of the new Xbox One controller in time, the battles I fought were rather satisfying, in a completely brutal sort of way."

"The graphics are pretty intense, and there's a ton of stuff going on throughout the demo — little events and interactions easy to miss in the heat of battle. I get the feeling the demo I played barely scratched the surface of Crytek's Xbox One title."

"What I am not impressed by is the Xbox One. The design is great (I love rectangles), the controller is a near-perfect evolution of the Xbox 360 pad and I'm sure we'll eventually see some of its power and cloud computing enhancements come into play."

"I don't expect I'll feel the difference between the two systems until I get up to my virtual elbows in Xbox One's guts later this year. I'm beginning to understand why our first introduction to the Xbox One focused on cable TV and streaming video and second-screen tech — it's the experience between and beyond the games that will define this console, and until I have a chance to sit down with that bit, I'm standing by my "hmmm.""

-OK so he was impressed but not impressed enough???? What does he want it to do, first Kotaku was one of the leaders of the "reveal didn't show any games" now he's like well the games are good (mostly) but I'll wait to see the other TV stuff and features because thats what will seperate X1 from last gen.

what is crazy is that they've started with TV stuff at the reveal and when people got angry about no game shown they starting pretending the X1 is all about the games at E3. Now the only way for them to lure people was to show their console as a gaming console at first place, but they already killed it for me cause i know the TV crap isn't banned for good. Don't get me wrong, Xbox One will have good games like every console that hit the market, the question is how long is it gonna stand against the PS4 which is the hottest thing to own at the moment..

OT I have been gaming a really long time. I can't remember a generation where I was blown away out of the gate so I'm not surprised in the least that the author of this title wasn't as well. Either or I am excited for the next generation of gaming to get underway. I just got to finish up my current library of titles before it starts.

honestly his write up is just confusing. saying ryse is fun to play and graphically amazing only to follow up saying killer instinct doesnt look all the great. saying he liked the games but didnt like one of them, saying wasnt impressed by console but loved the design, and controller. The leap from non hd to HD is bigger than what ps3/360 to these new consoles is hands down. particle effects, weather and world simulation are what to expect. its going from hd to PC type realism this gen. I just think hes lost and i dont say that in defense of the xbox one but both xbox one and ps4. if you have expectations to have a leap of non hd to hd type upgrade on this gen you have another thing coming. its going to be the immersive effects, the multitasking, the seamless worlds with no load times, instant on, quicker processing is whats taking place not a IMMENSE graphical leap IMO

I feel like the jump from ps1-ps2 was bigger. And the snes to ps1 Massive. Ps2-ps3 was a leap but not a gigantic this is absoloutley impossible on the last system leap. Some next-gen titles are impossible on current gen without severly reducing content and gameplay ( BF4, The division, Destiny, Kill zone SF, Elder Scrolls Online, Planetside 2) I feel a bigger gameplay leap. And this is only year one. Feels like a bigger jump overall.And launch titles never ever show the graphical capabilities a console has.

No, Planetside 2 is not something current consoles can handle. That awesome clusterf*ck of a game is too crazy.

Elders Scrolls Online... sucks. Nuff said. Could be played on the 360. Graphics are severely lacking. Cant even hold a candle to GW2, Rift, Tera, Neverwinter etc. They seemed to have sacrifice graphical fidelity for something and I still cant figure out what it is, especially when compared to recent MMOs.

I wish the Division is more survival than just shoot em-up. I hope it's comparable to DayZ in a sense or I hope it's better and more innovative than DayZ.

MariaHelFutura + 8h ago | Well said Ryse was a 360 game, Dead Rising 3 was a 360 game, it wouldn't surprise me if KI was a 360 game. Probably the reason the 360 has no good exclusive games on the horizon.

lol so true.. but people like jokesonhim will think they are the second coming anyway rofl

Have you all noticed how every time someone goes "deep" into detail with anything Xbox One related, be it MS/Devs/Press, always something negative arises? It is only when Microsoft speaks about it that it looks "good" but once people starts asking about the things MS don't talk about or try to avoid talking about, always something bad comes out of it. I think this is way they don't have someone speaking about their console the way Mark Cerny does with the PS4. You have seen videos of people with hands-on the PS4 with the actual system sent by Sony but not a single one with the Xbox One.

They keep saying the "XB1 can do this, can do that" but how much of that have we seen? How much have the shown? Like the sharing video gameplay which they only mentioned not at their XB1 reveal, not at e3, only to the press but have shown NOTHING about, like something implemented at the last minute to counter the PS4 feature which was built with that in mind. Ryse having scripted moments and the final product not being like what the showed at e3, the kinect ui being scripted at e3 and nothing happening in real time (shown behind closed doors and being NOTHING like what they shiwed on stage with lag in response), the console releasing just like they revealed it with the restrictions but needs an update to take the DRM and restrictions away (a detail not said in their official 180 backpedaling announcement but only talked about later when asked about the details of it)... All this only puts more question marks in my head and doubts about Microsoft next gen console and it only leads me to belive that once the system gets in the market, bad news will happen.

You're exactly right. Sony have been very open with the PS4 while MS seem to be the opposite. Why they do make a statement their never seems to be any proof and when questioned get asked they never seem to be answered properly.

From everything we've seen and read, it seemed MS is rushing their console again. It's highly likely they were planning to launch next year instead and Sony have abolutely blind sided them.

I'm incredibly excited for the launch of both consoles and getting all my questions answers once and for all.

on the other hand, we've seen no live demo of the PS4 UI (only screenshots) so we have no idea how fast, fluid, or intuitive it is.. We haven't seen a live demo of how the share button is going to truly work (just a snippet in a pre-edited video with Will and Sarah).. Will the PS4 have asynchronous matchmaking like the Xbox One? (where I can set up an online game via smartglass while continuing to play the game I'm currently playing or queue up a online game but rather than wait in the game lobby for the game to start, I can play another game, watch a movie, watch tv, or do anything else until the game alerts me that my online game session is ready) we have no idea because Sony hasn't show much at all about the new PSN that we now have to PAY for.. What about party chat?.. Sony has mentioned crossgame voice chat but haven't mentioned party chat.. I'm assuming there is going to be party chat, but it's weird that they haven't outright SAID it yet.. I'm sure the question has been asked but no confirmation from Sony?.. They scream to the high heavens about how you can buy/sell used games but don't say anything about a must-have feature like party chat?.. That should raise some eyebrows.. what about this "PlayStation app" and it's second screen functionality?.. Again, no live demonstration and no real information other than "trust us, it's coming".. What about cloud processing?.. Will Sony only be using Gaikai for PS3 game streaming or will it be used for dedicated servers and CPU cloud processing like the Xbox One's Azure cloud? . If so, when?.. Gaikai isn't even coming online for the PS4 until "sometime in 2014" but the XB1's cloud is ready to go as we speak.. And the list goes on and on..

how can anyone possibly say that Sony is being more open about the PS4 than Microsoft is about the Xbox One when all we know about the PS4 is it has better graphics than the PS3, you have to pay for online play now, has no DRM, plays games offline, and has the almighty GDDR5?.. What about the UI, PSN+ features/details, PS Home, Party Chat, and a number of other factors that all you "gamers" should be worried about instead?

The thing is people expect a ps2/og Xbox to ps3/360 jump immediately! That won't happen in the first wave of games. The main thing we will notice at the first generation of games is the much improved IQ which is really needed. We can't really tell how great FFXV, killzone SF etc from just looking at gameplay videos just like we could barely tell a difference between HD twins games and PC games just from looking at shitty compressed YouTube videos.

Just look at crysis 3 videos then try playing it yourself with a maxed out PC. The difference is HUGE as you can notice all Tue details comes to life on your HDTV.

Look at gears of war 1 and compare it to the last of us. The difference is jaw dropping! We need to wait couple years before we see how truly capable the next generation consoles are.

WOW you could say that about any game, ps4 OR one dude. Knack? (nothing innovative here) Killzone? (another fps) Infamous? (same infamous better graphics) Driveclub? (im not even gunna get into this, another racer. same thing for generations just different graphics)

Innovation in graphics is always a given, and is already visible on both systems, with Killzone and Forza. It's the innovations in gameplay that will truly shine next generation. I think the huge alwayss changing online worlds like Destiny, and the expansion of the online space like Planetside 2 and even BF4 64 players will be big players. But even in the single player experiences, the extra power of the systems will really be revealed in the next few years with vast improvements in the number of characters on screen, the size and destructibility of the environments, and the improvements in artificial intelligence.

sounds about right get the ps4 first then wait to get the xbox one later when its price drop seems like a smarter choice. that new ps4 controller the ds4 with the touch pad, enhanced rumble and improved controls and size with the power of the ps4 feels really next gen compared to the xbox one.

you know if you put killer instinct and streetfighter next to eachother, the graphics of killer instinct is very impressive- the lighting the detail and the effects and environment look very impressive compared to streetfighter.

google both and you would be surprised- i used to be a skeptic as well. killer instinct is after alll 1080p 60 fps.

well its a fighting game so yeah, make it look worse and it will be able to run on 360. Honestly what do these people expect. People confuse power with innovation. More power doesnt mean that suddenly tons of new games will be arriving that couldnt be done in the past. Fighting games now are not that much different then they were back in the day, except visuals. FPS havent changed much, no type of games have changed much over gens.

All that happens is an improvement and more room to innovate if they have an idea of how to do that. less limitations doesnt mean that suddenly a fighting game will be open world and be controlled by your brain waves or some shit.

anyone who doesnt think we will be seeing a major difference in thse games is dumb, blind, a noob or maybe all of these things. just wait till you actually play these games, you will understand.

just like this gen when people claimed halo 3 looked like halo 2. I laughed because even upscaled halo 2 looked like shit compared to halo 3.

what is wrong with that killer instinct looks great as a fighting game and the graphics are a step up from current gen. Dont know what people are complaining about- i mean what do you want an OPEN WORLD FIGHTING GAME? no it is a one on one fighter- i mean besides prettier graphics what else can they do lol

I'm not really buying into the whole advancement of graphics thing alone with these new consoles.

I really want to see gameplay advance as well, I would love to see the scope and interactivity of games increase to a new level.

ryse, & killer instinct don't seem to be doing anything particularly new in the gameplay department in terms of scope or interactivity. Does not by any means make them bad games, just I'm hoping for something more.

I believe that the focus in this generation will be seamless multiplayer (like they have shown with The Crew) and Open World. However, just like Ryse, games that are linear such as Uncharted, God of War, etc. will have amazing graphics, as well as cinematic experience.

It's too early though to see any changes in gameplay. Maybe starting 1 or 2 years after the consoles are out, that there will be a game that everybody will be amazed and everything else will copy it.

How do you advance gameplay without a new way to interact with the game? This is what Kinect offers, I'm no fan of Kinect when it comes to it replacing a controller but I can see the potential in the device. Gamers always cry they want new this and that but then when someone trys to innovate they get shit on by the very same gamers...

"I'm beginning to understand why our first introduction to the Xbox One focused on cable TV and streaming video and second-screen tech — it's the experience between and beyond the games that will define this console, and until I have a chance to sit down with that bit, I'm standing by my "hmmm."

..."it's the experience between and beyond the games that will define this console"...

This is news to me. Call me old fashioned, but I just need and want a gaming console that is made for the experience of gaming. I can see that this generation is going to go down between the gaming console and the gaming console disguised in DVR clothing. My popcorn is ready.

"Sony fanboys" criticized 360 users for paying for their subscriptions twice (netflix etc). Also online is still free on PS4 on some games so its not needed to access virtually everything like on Xbox.

I see it the same way as the author. We will get an xbox360/ps3 with updated graphics and new controllers (in case of PS badly needed). We will play 1st person and 3rd person shooters, some racing games and gow beat em ups with graphics that look about the same as recent PC optimized titles (The Witcher 2 or Crysis 3 pc). Imho there is nothing wrong with that but if you want something new and interesting gameplay wise --> WiiU.

controller argument will always be opinon based,but most opinions are in favor of the xbox,hence why sony is making there controller bigger with wider spacing and grips,its basically if the 360 controller had sex with a dual shock,problem is i dont like the analog placement,most dont,the analog sticks also seemed to flimsy but i heard they fixed that,he touch bad was a horrible and gimmicky idea,it will go unused by everyone but first party studios,light bar and mic,i think the controller is trying to do too much,xbox one controller is slim and sleek adding the extra rumble packs and removing the battery slot and d-pad,anyone who loves the xbox 360 controllerr will natrually love the xbox one's same might can be said about the dual shock 4,i am curious to see how japan likes the bigger controller.

Good little read with some honest opinion. I think many of us are going to feel slightly underwhelmed by what we see in next gen for the first round of games. PS2/Xbox jump to xbox360/PS3 was huge from a graphical standpoint. Both the PS3 and 360 have delivered visuals that have gone way beyond what anyone thought they could over their life time. So visually they are still giving us impressive games and next gen games while visually looking great...its just not the huge leap. What will impress all of us is going to be what the systems can do beyond just graphics.

It is a bit ironic that the author talks about being wow'd by Ryse but then uses Killer Instinct as the game that makes him go "Hmmm" in terms of visuals. I think Ryse is a good example of where we are going in next gen.

Infamous looks great dont get me wrong.. and the The Division also looks great...but just looking at The Divsion and comparing it to Ghost Recon Future Soldier ...they don't really "look" on the surface all that different. What makes The Division really shine is all the little things...shutting the car door when you crawl past it, bullet holes punching through car windows, Huge open world you can enter the all buildings, etc...

Visually they look good but what they games can do "under the hood" is what is really going to impress more than the visuals imo.

I think once the devs have got to grips with the hardware and what it opens up in terms of graphics and gameplay, then we will see a greater definition between the gens. Trust me on this, I got a beard lol

People need to remember that the ps4 games that have been shown were created on specs the devs thought they would have in the final build. The RAM is doubled what they expected. I have high hopes for 2014 ps4 1st party exclusives.

Exclusives show over time, initial launch games look better but the games get even better when the devs have had more time. Like how COD 2 looked on the 360, looks good now but not as good as other games.

Graphics aren't everything, of course. It's just that I'm used to seeing a more dramatic step up from one generation to the next. When the original Xbox gave way to the Xbox 360, there was no mistaking one system's games for the other's. Even the worst Xbox 360 launch titles were distinctively Xbox 360 games, plastic-looking textures and all.

I call BS. When the 360 launched averyone said that the launch games looked last gen. Wait on the PS3.

Now we are moving up (IMO) a good notch too though. From 720p to 1080p. I think the previous gen has the biggest jump post the birth of 3D graphics yet, right? But this coming gen is looking allright.

It is good to see real launch window games giving us more than just shinier graphics, but that was true for PS3 and 360 as well. RFOM and Motorstorm anyone? Car physics, car damage and distinctive realistically behaving surfaces (kind of arcady but even so) made Motorstorm so fresh, just unpredictable, brutal and a shit ton of fun.

I think the type of wow factor he was looking for could be comparable to how PC games evolved..

When you went from Wolfenstein -> Doom -> Quake 1-3 .. There were ground breaking changes made to each iteration of the game. Ranging from full 3D enviroments to GL and internet game play ....

Games have really just hit a wall in general ... You are not going to be wowed by anything because the jump from standard def to high def is gone ... that added element of internet play and open gl graphics is gone...

We are at a point now that the difference between this gen and last gen is that you can get 1080p with higher aliasing at more stable framerates... That is why in general the Wii U vs the PS4 and X1 won't really display the same gap we saw in the previous generation...

The only thing driving this generation that will make a difference is exclusives... Hardware is not going to win the war this gen.

Your view that all games in the last 2 generations (Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, Xbox360, PS3, Wii, WiiU) have been the same , except with better graphics / draw distance doesn't stand up to scrutiny. It just contains enough of an element of truth for people to believe it (after all, the N64 did pioneer some series that the Gamecube provided sequels to).

By your reasoning, it would mean that nothing that the Dreamcast did, or nothing that came after the Dreamcast, was original.

The Dreamcast is regarded as pioneering cel-shading games on a console, most frequently attributed to Jet Set Radio although there were others around the time( and the earlier Fear Effect on PS1 has a claim to a cel-shaded type effect plus there were 16 bit games with a cel-shading reminiscent toon style). Although earlier consoles supported internet in theory the DC was the first to promote and use it massively.

It could be said that PS2 games like Shadow of the Collosus owe their genesis to the likes of Ocarina of Time but since they have very different gameplay aims would it be fair to dwell on that too much? And the survival horrors on the console, like Silent Hill and Haunting Ground, were not just copying Resident Evil. It wasn't just a graphical and engine update- it was a sidestep to the right in what survival horror can do, as was Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube.

Looking at family games, I'd never played a game quite like Grabbed by the Ghoulies or Luigi's Mansion. Sure, they were inspired by old haunted house cliches which was a deliberate part of their charm but they were new gameplay ideas. Super Monkey Ball was more or less a new idea.

And didn't Alan Wake do more than just be influenced by the likes of Silent Hill?

The Unfinished Swan- it seems like some art house movie but I've never played a game quite like it.

New things are happening and they're not always just rearrangements of what has been put out in the past. It's just that the very popular games (like the unoriginal Dead Space) are.

even look at the difference between uncharted and uncharted 3. Over a generation the leap in graphics is fantastic due to fine tuning and optimizations. If Shadow Fall looks this good now, jsut imagine how great the games will look in 3-4 years.

Ya I remember buying my first 360 when cod3 came out and wasn't very happy with my purchase, the first couple games that impressed me graphically on the 360 from my memory were gear of war 1 and fight night round 3 which both look pretty dated now!

Another thing to take into consideration is that it is easier to make games within x86 vs power pc and cell ... So at what point are we going to keep saying "Imagine what it will look like in 3 years".. This gen is much different than the prior because the tool sets have been simplified to a format that developers have already been using.

I thought the whole point of x86 was to make stuff easier on the devs so that there is a smaller little learning curve to make quality stuff? Most PC devs are already making games with the ability to get up to ULTRA level graphic sets.. Letting you fine tune what types of eye candy to add like physics, af / aa, and even lighting / shadowing...

It is what it is at some point.. Maybe this gen we are going to just get 1080p as a standard with better frame rates with some more eye candy on the same games we are use to seeing?

so what titles on ps4 look so superior that you have decided ps4 is next gen. To me sounds like you got caught up in all this nonsense of people bashing xbox one. if Microsoft would have had no drm restrictions at E3 then none of you would be bitching this much. Microsoft came out with something new and everyone got scared. However I do admit Microsoft did a poor job at explaining there new system. but now its all clear, and everyone still has issues with it. you did not deserve a chance to play xbox one because you already made up your mind with ps4 based on the E3 show. say what you want but you sony fanboys make me sick and im buying both systems.

a) Microsoft's first reveal had little to do with games b) Microsoft's first reveal regarding used games, indie devs c) Kinect 2 which is taking resources of an already more media hub centered device and dividing it further.

First impressions are huge and reveal what Microsoft wants to do. They tamed their stances because of so much backlash, but you still see the blueprint of what they want to do. It's far less about gaming and far more about people buying media, streaming, services from Microsoft. Sony shocked me with such a huge focus on gaming. Never saw this reversal coming in a million years.

no one should be attacking this, this is well know for every gen, the fiorst batch look better but not by much but you get a game or 2 that show some power, the same will happen with the ps4 so its all cool, not sure why so many agrees and disagrees on everyones post, this is somethig that is common for both consoles